Home is where the heart is
by Billie-girl
Summary: Based on the 80's cartoon: The Raccoon's... Mysterious disappearances... The strange appearance of a girl in the Evergreen forest... and an ancient monster, Bert must somehow save the day with a liitle help from the most unlikely place. Rating may go up.


Home is where the heart is  
  
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I do not own The Raccoon's or there Characters. The Hunter family are all mine! MINE! MINE! MINE! that is all  
  
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The sun was scorching at a forty-five degree angle as the Hunter family set off for their hike in the shaded, uncharted wilderness. For Charles Hunter, this was the perfect vacation; away from the office with his two kids: Charles junior, and his 'little pumpkin' Lynn. Charles Jr, was not as eccentric as his father in going away from the city and his friends to get dirty and ruin his designer shoes. Lynn couldn't care weather she was in the woods or the city, she was just happy to be with her father for the long weekend. Not that she didn't like the outdoors, she took after her father; a true love for the forests, and often went camping when she was in girl scouts. This was to be Lynn's most memorable camping trip of her life; she had just graduated from her last year of high school; in a month, she would be 18, in two months, she would start history and philosophy at Trent University. She was a grown up now, this could be the last time she would be able to spend quality time with her father, till her time off when she can come back to BC and visit him.  
  
They had traveled in the dense forest for about half the day, then Mr. Hunter decided that this was far enough and they set up camp. Lynn had finished putting her tent up and went to give her dad a hug, "I'm gonna go look around the area, make sure there's no bear tracks or anything kay daddy?"  
  
Mr. Hunter simply smiled and kissed his daughters forehead. He had missed her terribly since the divorce and their mother took them to Ontario. After all that time she spent away from nature, she never forgot anything he taught her. 'If only CJ would learn from his younger sister,' he thought as she waved farewell and started to head downhill towards the stream where it was most likely to find animal tracks.  
  
She had not gone that far in her mind, she had left only twenty minutes ago. There were only a few tracks: rabbits, raccoons, fox, deer, generally harmless animals. Lynn was starting to realize the problem of walking down hill; sooner or later, you've got to go back up. Lynn was up to the challenge though. She climbed up natural stairs consisting of rocks and fir roots. She noticed the route she was taking was rather steep and found it would be easier to climb on all fours. The dirt was starting to crumble under her feet as she put her hand into a crater in a bolder and pulled herself up. Unfortunately, the crater was not that stable and her hand slipped. Lynn could feel a slight updraft as she found herself air-born for but a second, then, the sharp pain in her back as she made an awkward landing on the unleveled earth, and continued to roll down hill until she finally stopped and was rendered unconscious.  
  
When Lynn came too, she realized that a good deal of time had gone by. Grasshoppers were playing their nocturnal song, and the forest scenery had become a darker shade of green. The disoriented teenager sat up and waited till her eyes refocused to get her bearings. 'Daddy's gonna wonder what happened to me.... I better find an easier way up than that cliff' Lynn spoke to herself as she looked up the steep hill which bore the markings of her body tumbling down.  
  
She rose up and stretched her stiff muscles, then began to walk along the path she took the long path she used to get their in the first place. 'Daddy's probably got dinner started... If CJ says anything about my accented I swayer I am putting the first snake I see in his sleeping bag.... See how he likes them apples ... Oh boy am I in for it big time!' Lynn found ranting to herself about what's gonna happen to her helped shorten the walk. 'Something's not right. Our camp site is only about five minutes away, and I can't see or hear a fire...' She started to panic. 'Am I lost! No! I know the camp should be here.... I remember that log... and that's the opening...' She ran into the clearing desperate to find any sign that maybe her father and brother might have just re-located, but there was nothing. No signs he taught her, no note pinned to a tree. In fact, there were no signs of any tampering. It was as if she was the first one there. 'But that's impossible.... I know they're here somewhere...'  
  
The forest was getting darker, and the noises, both natural and of Lynn's imagination were getting louder. She could not understand where her father was, nor why there were no signs of ANY human tracks. Just like most people in a panic, she began to think of the negative aspects in her surrounding. 'There's bears here,' Lynn thought as she hugged herself as her imagination told her 'dark means cold', 'and wolves, and other wild animals... they probably have rabies or something... I gotta get high... a tree! I'll stay in a tree... but I wont sleep.'  
  
Lynn looked around for a tree with low branches which wasn't too hard considering she was in a forest. She climbed, and climbed, and climbed, until she was at least two and a half stories high and squirmed in between two sappy, irritating branches. She looked at the campsite below her with one desperate hope that her family might be their. Her heart sank even lower, if it was possible, and her eyes started to water as she looked down at the empty clearing. "Daddy," she cried aloud, followed by emotional sobs and wails until the moon was shinning high in the night sky, and Lynn had cried herself to sleep.  
  
The sun rose early the next day and beamed right into Lynn's eyes. Groggy and disoriented, she gave a loud groan as she stretched her arms and yawned. It took her a while to remember what happened the other night. When she did remember, the girl, still upset and confused about her father's mysterious disappearance, climbed down the tree and rested in a patch of soft grass. 'Sitting here isn't gonna help me,' Lynn scolded herself as she quickly popped up. 'If I walk south from here, I'm bound to find a road and maybe my dad and CJ.'  
  
As Lynn walked southbound she came across another problem. Her stomach let out a grumble that could probably have been heard in China in her mind. 'I need to eat! I have some food in my backpack... AND I LEFT MY BACKPACK AT CAMP!' Everything was starting to seem even more hopeless for the lost teenager, but never-the-less she continued on, relying on faith that she might run into someone who could help her. All day she hiked, all day her stomach screamed out for food, and all day Lynn's hope wissped away with the hours. By the time Lynn got to the road, she felt as if she was going to faint. She tried to continue on, but with her next step, her vision blurred and she began to feel light-headed. The earth beneath her felt as if it was turning sideways, upside down, spinning uncontrollably. Lynn fell back hard on the dirt and lied by the paved road unconscious yet again.  
  
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That same day, about eight miles due south-east of the highway, everyones favorite raccoon was coming down the stairs and entering the kitchen of the raccoondominiom. "GOOD MORNING!" Bert bellowed as he sat down across from Ralph and Melissa.  
  
"Good morning Bert," Melissa replied.  
  
"Did you sleep well," Ralph asked in between his coffee.  
  
"Surprisingly not," yawned Bert, scratching his head as he poured himself a bowl of his favorite cereal. "I thought I heard someone crying, but it stopped so I guess I was just hearing things."  
  
"Well maybe if you didn't watch all those weird movies and eat all that sugar before you went to bed than you wouldn't have that problem" Melessa mothered the odd looking raccoon.  
  
"Hey there is no way I'm giving up those classic horror flicks... they are way better than these new ones that try to be freaky." Bert defended himself as he scarfed down his cereal and milk. He said goodbye to the couple and headed out to meet his friend Cedric.  
  
Today they were to go out and play football. After all, Cedric would be doing nothing but reading if it wasn't for Bert. At least, that's how the raccoon felt. It was his duty to make his best friend do something fun. The Evergreen forests did not have all the luxuries of the major cities, such as arcades, big movie theaters, malls, and other places young people flock to, so Bert had to make the best of it. Which wasn't too hard, Bert loved it here. Being in the middle of no-where gave people a sense of freedom, there were less worries and more privacy. That wasn't what made Bert love the great outdoors. The activities: sports, fishing, ruffing it, this was his life.  
  
Bert arrived at the sports field earlier than he told Cedric to meet him, which was just fine. He started throwing the weird shaped ball in the air and raced after it. But soon minutes turned into hours and Cedric had not shown up. Bert was beginning to worry. He didn't really like going to Cedric's home, since his dad was a little, cynical, but it wasn't like Cedric to be late.  
  
Reluctantly, Bert started to head off to Cedric's house. He had not gotten far when he saw a black limousine coming down the road. The car stopped beside him and the window rolled down. "BERT!" the raspy voice or Cyril Sneer called from inside. "Where on earth is Cedric? He said he was going to be out with you today and I didn't even see him leave, let alone go to his room last night."  
  
"I haven't seen him," Bert said a little surprised. "He was supposed to meet me in the football field about two hours ago and he never showed up."  
  
Cyril's fatherly side started to show its face as he yelled at Bert for no reason other than not knowing where his poor Cedric was. Than he yelled at the three pigs: "Don't just sit their like a bunch of nin-com-poops! GET THIS HEAP OF JUNK MOVING!" With that, Cyril rolled the window back up and left Bert in the dust.  
  
Now he was certain something was wrong. 'Maybe Ralph and Melissa will know what to do,' Bert thought to himself as he started to head home. For some odd reason, he was not too disgruntled about a mysterious disappearance, weird things were rather common in the Evergreen forest, and his two friends always seemed to know what to do in Bert's mind. What worried him was that Cyril was worried, and he only worries about the big things. The energetic raccoon was pretty optimistic went he arrived at the raccoondominiom, Ralph and Melissa weren't home so Bert made himself comfortable on the couch and popped a B&W horror flick into the tv and began to watch his latest fad. He dozed off sometime after the giant praying-mantis started to attack the small town of Pleasant Valley.  
  
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Lynn woke up with a horrible feeling in her stomach. 'Man I feel like I had one too many drinks!' It was decided, she MUST find something to eat. 'I remember seeing a river a few kilometers east when we were driving up here, maybe there's some fish.'  
  
It's amazing what a human can do when put in a desperate situation. The only thing that was keeping Lynn moving right now was her stomach, the rest of her was to busy crying, unable to understand what was going on. She found the river, and she found fish. Lynn built a small fire, cleaned the fish she caught with her small pocket knife, and drank the fresh clean mountain water. While the poultry settled her stomach, she did not enjoy it. 'What if I can't find them? What if no one finds me? What if I die out here? No one will ever find my body!' The emotional girl started to sob again. At least this night she would have a fire to keep her warm.  
  
The fire lasted through the night, and when Lynn woke up she was able to get food and drink. She prepared more fish than usual and cooked them almost to a crisp so that they would last longer, she didn't know the next time she would be able to eat. She had no choice than to keep them in her pocket. When Lynn was ready, mentally and physically, she started back on the road. She was slowly getting out of her depression and was determined to not give up on her quest. 'I WILL find my family, I WILL get out of this place, I WILL NOT die here!'  
  
All day Lynn did nothing but walk down the road, calling out to here dad and her brother. Her high hopes were starting to slip away again. After about six hours, she decided to rest. It was mid-afternoon and the sun could was smoldering hot. She sat under one of the many large coniferous trees and took out some 'fish jerky'. It was dry, tough and not very tasty, but it was better than nothing. She was so emotional all of a sudden, it was not like her. 'Why are you turning into such a baby!' she scolded herself. 'Grow up! You're not a little kid anymore!' The more she put herself down the more upset she became, not so much at the fact that she was lost and alone this time. She had let her emotional side loose, with no one around, Lynn had let herself go. Any hurtful memory she kept bottled up, every time she wanted to cry, every time she was sad but could never tell was coming out know. From her parents divorce, to a dead on the side of the road she saw when she was four.  
  
"DADDY!" she wailed utterlessly. "ANYBODY! PLEASE HELP ME!" No one answered the teenagers calls. As Lynn finished off the last of her negative feelings, she promised herself she would never cry again.  
  
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Bert woke up on the couch that day, it was early in the morning and no sign of Ralph or Melissa. He stretched and gave a loud yawn. 'This is not like them to be out this early.'  
  
He got up to get himself breakfast when he noticed that the dishes from the other morning were still on the table. 'Ralph didn't clean? something's up.... I wonder if someone in town might know what's going on' Bert decided to skip breakfast and ran outside, heading towards Willow's general store.  
  
There he saw two of the pig trio putting up missing fliers of Cedric, they seemed rather relieved to see Bert. "Bert, have you seen any signs of Cedric around? We've been looking all day and night and we can't seem to find him,"  
  
"Really! you don't know where he is?" Bert was truly shocked. "No I haven't seen him at all, in fact, I haven't seen Ralph or Melissa either.... HEY! Aren't there usually three of you?"  
  
"We don't know where he is," the two pigs said simultaneously. The two began to panic with each other over the disappearance of their brother. Bert did not want to bother them, besides he had more important things to do.  
  
''This looks like a job for Bert: Private Investigator!'' the enthusiastic raccoon boldly said aloud as he headed back to the raccoondominiom, a.k.a. his P.I. office. But as Bert was leaving, the most harsh and deafening call echoed through his ears. He could barely hear himself think over the loud, and disheartening wails, but he was the only one who could hear them. No one else seemed to notice some voice calling out to for help. This wasn't the first time Bert heard the crying, but it was the loudest. 'Whatever is making that noise has got to be closer!' He thought, trying to look as casual as possible as people started to stare at him. 'I need to see who's making this noise.... and how come only I can hear it?'  
  
Bert decided to take Ralph's jeep. The crying was coming from the north, 'This racket is driving me crazy!'  
  
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Lynn didn't know if it was the lack of food causing her to hallucinate, but she swore she could hear the sound of a car over her stomach's growls. Still tired and over heated, she stood up to look over the road for the phantom automobile. Her body was giving up, she couldn't breathe nor see strait. 'Keep it up girl!' Lynn encouraged herself. 'Just hold on until the car comes, than you can rest. Just hold on!'  
  
The exhausted teen tried with all her might to stand and walk, but the sun was too hot and too powerful. She was having a heat stroke and needed water, fast. Lynn ignored her complications as she saw a red jeep coming down the road. It stopped as it came in front of her.  
  
Lynn knew that her case was worse than she tried to let on, the man, looked like a giant raccoon wearing a sports jersey with the letter B, or D, or G, she couldn't make it out. Lynn wasn't that stupid as to know that the stranger was really a raccoon though. She gave a sigh of relief and collapsed in front of the 'raccoon'.  
  
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The cries were getting louder and clearer as Bert sped down the road. He could see something in the distance, standing by the road. He found it impossible to tell what she was at his distance, but Bert knew she was the one who was haunting him. She had to be, who else would be stranded at the side of the road in the middle of no-where?  
  
Bert was shocked to find out that the strange silhouette of the strange girl turned out to be a human. They never came out here, only the forest ranger and his two kids were the only humans for miles upon miles and even they did not know about the hidden society of forest animals. The human didn't seem too shocked to see him, Bert noticed, or maybe she was too far out to. She gave a very weak smile and fell at his feet.  
  
He looked down at her. Her hair greasy, tangled was a light auburn with blond highlights and at neck length, her skin was a peachy-cream colour, and her face was a round shape not too high cheek bones, pouty-lips, almond shaped eyes whose colour did not want to make up its mind, and a half button half roman nose. Unfortunately, it was impossible to see most of this as she was covered in grass stains and dirt. Bert lugged the unconscious body into the back of the jeep, making sure he didn't hurt her head, and drove back to the raccondominiom.  
  
'What is going on here?' The poor raccoon thought as he pulled into the driveway and got the human inside. 'Maybe she has a better idea than I do'.  
  
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End file.
